This cross-sectional study carried out in North Kivu (NK) and South Kivu (SK) of the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo aimed to identify the most preferred Musa cultivars, their processing/cooking methods and Musa consumption patterns among rural households. Our results showed that the preferred cooking banana varieties included yellow-pulped AAA-East African Highland bananas [EAHB] ‘Nshikazi’ (SK) and ‘Vulambya’ (NK), which were valued for their cooking qualities, large bunches and suitability for production of banana beer. The preferred plantains were orange-pulped and included ‘Musheba’ (SK) and ‘Musilongo’ (NK) and were preferred for their short maturation period, large bunches and higher market prices. Over 60% of the households examined had consumed EAHB within 24 hours, whereas <10% had consumed plantains. The most common cooking method was simple boiling of bananas/plantains and main accompaniments include beans and amaranth leaves. Over 69% of surveyed households that had consumed Musa products had consumed them boiled. The majority of the households (90%) obtained banana/plantains from their farms, and >55% of households from SK and NK consumed banana products between 2 and 4 times/week. This information will be used to help direct researchers on the Musa cultivars that could be further sampled for carotenoid analysis and those found to be rich could be used in the fast-tracking approach to reduce Vitamin A deficiency.

Tropical soils have low fertility and chemical fertilizers are not affordable for most of the farmers, especially in West Africa. The development of low cost technologies for amending agricultural soils in this environment is needed. Biological and organic fertilizers were tested in 20 farmers’ fields in central Benin for rainfed rice production on acidic plinthosol under monomodal rainfall pattern conditions. Short time matured cowpea and native grass fallow were preceding NERICA1 and Ina Okpè rice cultivars that are interspecific (Oryza glaberrima × Oryza sativa) and local varieties respectively. Cowpea and bush residues were incorporated into soil before rice seeding. Soil nutrients (C,N,K, Ca and Zn) contents were significantly depleted whereas null balance was observed for soil available-P content. An increased of soil content in Fe (>130 mg kg-1) was significantly observed in all the treatments. Highest yield of 1.6 t ha-1 was recorded in the treatment composed of cowpea and NERICA1. The study technology was deemed suitable in deficient-P acid soil whereas the land foot slope position was excluded to avoid potential increasing of Fe content (iron toxicity of rice) in soil of the subsequent lowland. Minimum chemical fertilizer was required for improving rainfed rice cultivation on plinthosol in monomodal rainfall pattern ecology.

The physicochemical properties of soil (0-0.20 m) were analysed to evaluate the characteristics of tea growing soils under three different locations of West Bengal (India), considering the age and elevation of tea plantation. The soil samples of Dooars and Terai region of West Bengal were collected on the basis of age (young, medium and old) of the tea plants, while that from Darjeeling region as organic and non-organic tea growing soils. The organic and non-organic tea soils were collected on the basis of elevations of the sites. The soils of the Dooars region were clay to sandy loam in texture whereas, soils of Terai and Darjeeling were sandy loam in texture. The selected soils were strong to moderately acidic in reaction with low electrical conductivity (EC), Ca+2 and Mg+2 content. The organic carbon content of different regions was found medium to high, but very little variation was obtained with organic tea growing regions of Darjeeling. The soil available N and P content were low to medium in all the regions but higher available K content were found with the soils of Dooars and Terai regions. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) of soils varied from low to medium. The correlation study indicated that CEC, available N and K were influenced by soil organic carbon content, while the available P, Ca+2 and Mg+2 content by the soil pH. The available N, K, EC and CEC were negatively influenced by sand content of the soils.